South Africa look to maintain Pink ODI momentum

Port Elizabeth: After winning the first three games in the ODI series against South Africa, Team India was handed a shock defeat in the fourth ODI at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

With rain playing spoilsport, South Africa seized the moment to win the game by 5 wickets. And even as the teams gear up to play the fifth ODI at St. George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, Virat Kohli and his boys have their task cut-out.

Despite that, Klaasen – playing just his second ODI – needed to produce a solid rearguard effort to see this through, and his runs came in crucial partnerships of 72 with David Miller and 33 with Andile Phehlukwayo.

The challenge for South Africa now will to be keep at it in the fifth ODI in Port Elizabeth and stay in with a chance of keeping the series going.

There were plenty of positives they can take heart from, like the fact that despite Shikhar Dhawan (109) and Kohli (75) getting among the runs, they restricted India to 289/7.

However, it is equally true that India made matters hard for themselves. Before bad weather interrupted play, India seemed well on course for a total around 350. And later while chasing a truncated total, South Africa did fall to 102/4 before Miller and Klaasen ground things out.

India must brush the loss aside and look to wrap the series up. They are still favourites to do just that. South Africa will need to build on the positives, and ensure the negatives are kept at a minimum.